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Episode 046-April 5, 2016

If you have direct ancestors or collateral relatives who lived in Vermont for a time, or who passed through Vermont on their way elsewhere, then this episode’s for you. Ed McGuire of the Vermont French-Canadian Genealogical Society (VT-FCGS) is going to take us on a tour of Vermont resources and repositories that will get your research off to a great start.

Researching French-Canadians in Vermont

Ed and I discussed the following:

• How the geography of Vermont influenced record generation
• The economic patterns that developed in Vermont
• French-Canadian migration to Vermont
• The effects of the growth of Catholicism in Vermont
• The reason for some gaps in French-Canadian civil records
• Researching in vital records and census records (no state census records)
• Location of church records
• Location of probate records (found at county level)
• Secondary sources
• Online sources

Resources

• List of French-Canadian parishes and year of incorporation
• List of parish repertoires published by the VT-FCGS (55 volumes so far). Copies of these repertoires are available at the Vermont Genealogy Library in Colchester, VT; the New England Historic Genealogical Society Library in Boston, MA; the American-French Genealogical Society Library in Woonsocket, RI; the American-Canadian Genealogical Society Library in Manchester, NH; and the library of the French-Canadian Genealogical Society of Connecticut in Tolland.
• The Vermont Genealogy Library is the home of the VT-FCGS. Here you can search digitally in the index and order records online.
• Probate records are currently being digitized by FamilySearch.
• The Vermont Adjutant General’s Office published rosters. These books are found in large genealogy libraries. The Roster of Vermont men and women in the military and naval service of the United States and allies in the World War, 1917-1919 is available as a digital download at FamilySearch.
• Fold3 has Vermont pension records for various wars.
• The website Vermont in the Civil War by Tom Ledoux contains much information about Vermonters who served in the Civil War.
• FamilySearch.org has the best collection of online records for Vermont.
• Ancestry.com provides Vermont vital records as well as military, immigration, land, and probate records.
• Vermont French-Canadian Genealogical Society: links to Vermont and Quebec research compendiums
• Vermont Genealogy Library store: order baptism, marriage, and burial records from Vermont Catholic parishes and past issues of Links (membership gives you access to all back issues).

Americanancestors.org is a great resource for Vermont genealogy:

• French-Canadian resources
• Articles by Vermont expert Scott Andrew Bartley
•      Vermont Migration
•      Vermont Newspapers
•      Early Vermont Court System
• Scott Andrew Bartley’s project: Early Vermont Settlers to 1784 (may include some early French-Canadians)

Repositories

• Vermont Genealogy Library
• Vermont Historical Society, Barre, VT: largest collection of genealogical material
• Vermont State Archives: includes vital record cards mailed in by town clerks, probate records
• NEHGS: microfilm copy of VT vital record cards to 2008
• UVM-Bailey/Howe Library: old VT newspapers, manuscripts, city directories
• NARA-Boston in Waltham, MA: federal naturalization records (or check VT city, district, county courts)

Contact

Ed McGuire: edmcguire [dot] vt [at] gmail [dot] com

French-Canadian News

The French Canadian Heritage Society of Michigan

April 9, 11 AM, Mount Clemens Public Library: Wilmont Kreis and ‘Finding François: a guide to tracing your roots in France’ with emphasis on François Allard in Normandie and Jeanne Anguille in the Loire, followed by a brief tour of Perche and La Rochelle.

The Quebec Family History Society

April 9, 10:30 AM: ‘Digitizing and Preserving Documents, Photos, etc’ with Gerry Matthews. Classes are held at the QFHS Heritage Centre and Library in Pointe-Claire, Quebec.

The Vermont French-Canadian Genealogical Society

• April 9: the second part of ‘DNA Tests: Finding Cousins with Autosomal DNA’ with today’s guest Ed McGuire
• April 16: Joanne Polanshek , ‘Identifying Your Ancestors Using the FAN Principle.’

Classes run from 10:30 AM until noon and are held at the Vermont Genealogy Library in Colchester, Vermont.

The American-Canadian Genealogical Society

April 23, 8 AM-4 PM at the Library at 4 Elm St. in Manchester, New Hampshire: Spring Conference. Registration begins at 8 AM. The day consists of three presentations: Resources Available at the Manchester Historic Association Research Center with Jeffrey Barraclough; the New Hampshire Archives with Brian Burford and New Hampshire Vital Records with Deborah Moore; and Lineage Societies for French-Canadians with Janine Penfield.

Announcements

May 1st is the deadline for signing up for the Acadian Ancestral Tour 2016. You can find links to more information in the show notes for episode #45.

Survey

Survey 45 Results

Here are the question and results:

If you could choose the ideal frequency, would you prefer this podcast to be published:

• Every week? 0%
• Every two weeks? 21%
• Every three weeks (as it is now)? 57%
• Every month? 7%
• It doesn’t matter. 14%
• Other 0%

Comments included: “Quality of content is what matters. If more time is needed to achieve that, take it.” “Right now I enjoy looking forward to the podcast. If it is more frequent, then I would fall behind and might be overwhelmed.”

Thanks to everyone who took the time to respond.

Survey 46

Survey 46’s question is in keeping with today’s topic: Do you have any French-Canadian ancestors who lived in Vermont? Yes? No? or I haven’t found any yet. You can find the survey at maplestarsandstripes.com/survey46.

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